Anniversaries

Zone Conferences

This week we attended zone conference with both the Mindelo East and West Zones.  We have completed the first three months of our mission.

Lunch with the Mindelo East Zone

Mindelo West Zone

Maybe we could get these for the missionaries.

One of the Sister's apartments needed a new chair

So, when in Africa, do as the Africans do.

One of our humanitarian aid projects is to provide over six hundred dental hygiene kits to the Paúl school district on the island of Santo Antão.  We held a service project in the Mindelo 3rd ward to assemble the kits.

These girls had a great time.

Our service project was scheduled between zone conferences so we also had a bunch of missionaries attend.  Elder Alealua (with his back to us on the right), a Tongan from Australia, is trying to figure it all out.

Elder Champion and Elder Floyd have it figured out.

Musings of an Old Senior Companion

This week has been a week of contemplation and reflection as I think about our current situation and the many events that have led up to us being here in Cape Verde.  In some ways this week is an anniversary of sorts and I suppose for that reason I am in a pensive mood.  One year ago Diane and I received our mission call.  At the time I was still working and Diane had already retired as a kindergarten teacher.  President Monson was the prophet.  Our family was spreading out and grandchildren were being sent to our sons and daughters.  What a difference one year can make.

To our surprise the call to Cape Verde left us scrambling to find a world map and determine exactly where we were going.  Knowing that we would be going to a third world country was exciting as well as somewhat sobering.  An added blessing was that we would be speaking Portuguese, the language that we had learned on our early missions to Brazil.  As young missionaries in the early 1970's we had the special blessing of serving in Brazil and teaching the Gospel to a people with whom we developed a strong love.  However, at that time, not all worthy individuals were able to receive the priesthood or temple blessings.  We both had experiences where we wept in sadness as we had to leave golden contacts and teach them no more.  

Our fortieth wedding anniversary is also this week.  The day Diane and I met, the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve had just released the revelation that all worthy men could receive the Priesthood and participate in temple ordinances.  We wept for joy as we shared our mission experiences and the excitement that we felt for those individuals that could now participate in the fullness of the Gospel blessings.  Little did we know that forty years later we would be missionaries to and witnesses of a people and country blessed by that revelation.

The decision to retire is not always easy.  The concerns of finances and health issues seem to be two big concerns for most people.  Often young people are given the advice that if you wait until you can afford marriage than you will never marry.  In a way I suppose that that is similar for retirement.  There comes a time when you bite the bullet and make the jump.  I enjoyed my career but now I am so glad that I made the decision to leave my job and literally enter into a new and exciting time of life.  Surprisingly I do not miss my work.  I certainly miss the association that I had with many of my fellow employees and associates.  But I am extremely content with the decision to retire, move ahead, and devote my time and energy to a much more fulfilling and, in some ways, an even more challenging assignment.  I am confident that the younger generation will step into my career shoes and do an even better job than I did.

This is an interesting time of life.  In his book, "Life After Life", Raymond Moody (not affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ) describes his research of near death experiences.  He reaches two conclusions; 1) that the knowledge, wisdom, and experience that we acquire in this life will rise with us in the after life and 2) that the relationships that we develop here will continue after we die.  As I grow in maturity and understanding of Gospel principles, those two observations summarize much of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  

I am so grateful for a mission that encourages me and, at times, requires me to develop and improve my relationship with my Heavenly Father, my savior Jesus Christ, my wife, my family (our long distance relationship has brought us closer) and my friends.  And also for the special relationships that are unique to our mission as we work with and grow to love the missionaries, the members and the many individuals that we are helping to fulfill their capacity as children of Heavenly Father.  As we share our knowledge, wisdom and life experiences with these people, our own knowledge, wisdom and life experiences are added upon.

I share with you my testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I know that Jesus is the Christ, our savior and redeemer, that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that through him the true church was once more restored upon the earth, and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the Lord's church upon the earth today.  I leave that testimony with you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

It is an honor and a privilege to carry this certificate and wear the missionary badge every day.